Application Deadline Extended to October 31

On October 19, the Restore Louisiana Homeowner Assistance Program announced an extension of the application deadline to Tuesday, October 31, 2023. The extension is aimed at approximately 6,500 homeowners who completed the initial survey but haven’t yet submitted the full application.

The official announcement is on the program’s news page: Restore Louisiana Homeowner Assistance Program Extends Application Deadline to Tuesday, Oct. 31. Local coverage from KPLC summarized the announcement the same day.

If you’re in that 6,500 — or if you’ve been waiting and assumed you were already out of time — this is the window.

What the deadline covers

The October 31 deadline applies to the full application, not the initial survey. The survey deadline was August 1, 2023. If you didn’t complete the survey by that date, you’re not in the pool the October 31 extension applies to.

If you did complete the survey by August 1 but haven’t submitted the application yet, this is your twelve-day window.

What to do this week

Day 1 (today): log in at restore.la.gov and confirm you have an invitation to apply on your account. If you completed the survey on time, you should.

Days 2-3: gather your application documentation. This is the part that takes time. Expect the program to ask for:

Proof of ownership (deed, tax records) as of the date of the storm
Proof of occupancy (utility bills, mail, voter registration, driver’s license)
FEMA registration paperwork
Insurance claim documents, including any settlement paperwork
Photos of damage — ideally the ones you took shortly after the event
Receipts for any repairs you’ve already paid for out of pocket
Mortgage information

Days 4-7: fill out the application carefully. Don’t rush this. Errors or omissions trigger back-and-forth that can eat the extension window.

Days 8-12: submit, and respond promptly to any program questions. The program often follows up for additional documentation within hours of submission.

What happens after submission

Submission doesn’t award you funds. It puts your application in the program’s queue for eligibility review and Estimated Cost of Repairs (ECR) development.

Once your application is processed and your ECR is developed, the program will execute a grant agreement. That’s when the Solution 2 clock starts — 180 days to begin construction, 365 days to finish.

A note on the finality

Deadline extensions in programs like this don’t typically come twice. When the program says “final extension,” they mean it — the program has internal reporting milestones with HUD that it has to hit, and those don’t stretch forever.

If you’re going to apply, plan on October 31 being the number. No further wishful thinking.

If you’re already past application stage

If your grant is already executed and you’re in active Solution 2 scoping or construction, the October 31 deadline doesn’t apply to you. Keep running your Project Plan on the 180-day and 365-day clocks.